Thriving in a no growth economy

"Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman - or an economist." (Kenneth Boulding).

Does this mean that we all need to stop designing ? On the contrary: A growing worldwide movement is looking through the fresh lens of progress without physical expansion of the economy.

UCD Innovation is delighted to be partnering with the Institute of Designers in Ireland in welcoming John Thackara to Dublin as part of the Dublin Creative Design Network when he will discuss this topic in more detail as part of the Innovation Dublin 2012 festival.

Fast Company described John Thackara as “a business provocateur….”. For the Wall Street Journal, he “has established a global reputation as a cutting edge design expert”. Wired called him “a design luminary”.

Title: Thriving in a no Growth Economy

Date: 25 October 2012

Time: 6 pm - 8 pm

Location: William Jefferson Clinton Auditorium, UCD, Belfield, Dublin 4.

Registration: If you would like to attend this seminar please click here to register.

Admission charge: Free for UCD & NCAD Staff & Students, & Interreg Partners  (upon production of appropriate ID card)

Please note, free seats for UCD & NCAD are limited, so please register as soon as possible.

There is an admission charge for all other attendees as follows:

€20 for Institute of Designers of Ireland Members. Payment via this link http://goo.gl/0YZFQ

€35 for all other attendees. Payment via this link http://goo.gl/ZreXT

John Thackara Profile: For thirty years John Thackara has travelled the world in his search of stories about the practical steps taken by communities to realise a sustainable future. As Director of www.doorsofperception.com John organises conferences and festivals in which social innovators share knowledge.

John studied philosophy, and trained as a journalist, before working for ten years as a book and magazine editor including editing the Design magazine for five years, modern culture editor of Harpers & Queen and design correspondent of The Guardian.

John was Director of Research at the Royal College of Art (1989-1992) and was the first director of the Netherlands Design Institute, Amsterdam (1993-1999). He was program director of Designs of The Time (Dott 07), the social innovation biennial in England and he was commissioner in 2008 of France’s main design biennial, Cite du Design.

John is a Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art, in London, and a Fellow of The Young Foundation, the UK’s social enterprise incubator. He sits on the advisory boards of the Pixelache Festival in Helsinki, the Future Perfect festival in Sweden, and Design Impact in India. He is also a member of the UK Parliament’s Standing Commission on Design.

Among John’s 12 books are Design After Modernism: Beyond the Object (1987), and Lost in Space: A Traveller’s Tale (1995). His most recent book, the best-selling In the Bubble: Designing in a Complex World, was published by MIT Press in May 2005 and has since been published into nine other languages.

This event forms part of a series of master classes which aim to generate debate, discussion and connections between people from various perspectives with an underlying idea that design is what links creativity to innovation.

This event is part of the Innovation Dublin 2012 with support from Interreg 4B Open Innovation Project.